i want to start reading a little more and was wondering if some of you could give me some good ideas. i don't have a great attention span for reading (thus the reason i don't read many books). i'd like to keep the length down to 200-300 pages or so if that's possible, with a quick moving plot. i like fucked up stories too, if that helps.

A few of my favorite 'quick reads' :

Invisible Monsters, Choke or Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk


Any of the Harry Potter books. They're longer than 200 pages, but they're quick reads.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Pandora by Anne Rice


After Dachau by Daniel Quinn was amazing. I just read it a few weeks ago.

Everything else I have is pretty long. . . except for the "fearless" series.

going to the book store tommorrow, might check into these.

Neil Gailman - American Gods

Damn, I was going to tell you to get some big thick novels.

Kurt Vonnegut-anything really, but Breakfast of Champions is a good starting place.

Ray Bradbury-The Illustrated Man or The Martian Chronicles

Margaret Atwood-Oryx & Crake

Jerzy Kozinzki-Steps


Those are all pretty short and very entertaining.

"The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World."

One of the best books I've ever read. Hilarious. Informative. Insightful. I can't recommend it strong enough.

"The Areas of My Expertise".

Hilarious. If you're looking for off-the-wall comedy, this is it. Reads amazingly quick, even the chapter of 700 hobo names.

"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. I just finished it; it's really long, but a quick read. Very, very readable; humorous and sad at the same time.

"Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs. This one is shorter, hilarious, and definitely fucked up on several levels. There's a movie coming out of this one soon, too.

I don't wanna sound excessively mainstream or anything, but...

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
The Shining - Stephen King
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

What can I say? I like those books a lot.

Mostly Bob by Tom Corwin.
It's an INCREDIBLY fast read (one sentence per page) but for anyone who's ever had a dog, it's a must.

Great book, but about twice as long as the original poster was looking for.

i'll echo orpheus, all the vonnegut's i've read have been great...and i think he mentioned martian chronicles too...it's short and pretty fast paced

I've read quite a few of Charles Bukowski's books... he's an awesome read! At least for me... I could relate to SOME of the things he writes about... most of it is quite off the wall but hilarious non the less. My favorite book of his is Factotum. Quick read, couldn't put the damn thing down... I finished it in two days the last time i read it.
I second A Clockwork Orange and Huckleberry Finn... great books. I'm really into works that started as a book then were made into a movie, I'm quite a movie buff... so with that being said, here goes!

Requiem for a Dream - Hubert Selby Jr. Just about the most disturbing book I've ever read besides The Jungle - Upton Sinclair; great read though.
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk... being from Oregon I just love him! (he's from Portland)
The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides... the book is better than the movie.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape - Peter Hedges, again the book is much better IMO.
Lolita - Vladamir Nebakov... a bit of a tough read at times but the man has a way with words.
The Last Picture Show - Larry McMurtry who also did the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain.
I've managed to get through all of those easy, witht he exception of Lolita. I've had to read that a few times to get everything out of it.
I'm a bit of a dork...

Anything Bukowski.

I finally got around to reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald to see what all the fuss is about. All the fuss is about a fantastic novel.

Naked-David Sedaris
Contortionist Handbook- Craig Clevenger
Bob Dylan Chronicles Volume I
Rum Diary- Hunter S. Thompson

How could I forget Thompson!!! A must! He's great as well.

I was about to post Gaimen.



Try Stardust then. Great story, will be a movie soon starring Clarie Danes. So read it before ti gets ruined.

Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman

If you grew up in the butt-rockin' 80's, were even remotely a fan of the genre or not (my case), this is for you. Great read and at times, laugh-out-loud hilarious.

If you're into music auto-bios, here some of the better ones.

Inside Out: A Personal History Of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason (Awesome)

Chronicles Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan (Fascinating and inspiring)

"Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed" by Philip Hallie

It's non-fiction, I haven't finished it yet, but it's blowing my mind right now...it's about a town in southern France during WWII that hid Jews and foreigners from the Nazis and the Vichy. (Don't worry I'm not ruining the plot, this is all revealed in the first few pages.) The Nazis and everyone else knew the refugees were there, they knew who was hiding them, they knew who the leaders were...and except for a couple of raids, not much happened. No masacres, no nothing. An interesting look at how non-volience can actually work.

just got back from the bookstore. picked up fear and loathing in las vegas -hunter s thompson, breakfast of champions - kurt vonnegut, 1984 and animal farm - george orwell. i wanted to pick up american gods , but i couldn't find it. maybe some other day. thanks everyone for your insight.

Which did you decide to read first?